Crysis® Maximum Edition

GameSpy's online services will be shut down on May 31. Some publishers are actively finding a way to make their multiplayer games work. For example, older Battlefield games will continue operating, as will Arma. Developers like Capcom and Epic Games are planning workarounds. But, one franchise's legacy games will close its online doors come May 31: Crysis.

A game most famous for its beautiful visuals can be beamed directly into your eyeballs, thanks to some clever modding for the Oculus Rift. Modder Nathan Andrews, who previously worked on Half-Life and Black Mesa mods for the VR device, has started cracking into the CryEngine and produced a neat proof-of-concept video to prove it.

PC Gamer reports that the mod is incomplete, as it lacks things like a crosshair and iron-sights. But he has the mod up and running, at least, in both Crysis and Crysis Wars. He also mentioned that he's ported the mod to CryEngine 3 "if anyone is interested in building a game from the ground up with VR support."

We're probably witnessing the way humanity ends. When aliens are picking over our bodies and wondering how we died, they'll discover it wasn't famine or nuclear war. We all just had VR equipment strapped to our heads and no reason to leave our picturesque tropical islands. Still, what a way to go.

Three years after launching, stompy robot Crysis mod MechWarrior: Living Legends has released its very final version. The gang at Wandering Samurai Studios still have more they'd like to do but, alas, their license to use the MechWarrior property is up. So, download Living Legends 0.7.0 and see it out with a plasma blast.

"Over the years, weâve strived to create the greatest, most innovative Battletech/MechWarrior game ever conceived. We feel our efforts re-inspired faith in the MechWarrior IP and paved the way to show that hard work and perseverance can bring anything to life given enough blood, sweat, and tears," project director 'Defender' wrote in the announcement. "Created by fans, for fans, we present to you this culmination of 6 years of work and whatever else we could slap together in time to release this final update to you; our community."

Patch 0.7.0 brings changes including new mechs and tanks, new HUDs, bug fixes, and balance tweaks. Wandering Samurai also gave a list of features which have been started but shall never be finished now that it's forced to stop. We won't see 16 maps, heaps of mechs of vehicles, several game modes, replacement sounds for all the Crysis assets, and more.

"As Developers and Staff of Wandering Samurai Studios, we are, as of this point, no longer allowed to create future content based on the MechWarrior IP due to legal obligations on behalf of various rights holders," Defender wrote. "These rights holders own the Legally Binding, Non-Transferrable, Non-Commercial License Agreement with Microsoft and as of 2013 will no longer officially support the MechWarrior: Living Legends division of Wandering Samurai Studios."

Even though MechWarrior was a dormant franchise at the time, it was still a surprise when then-rightsholder Microsoft gave Wandering Samurai the license. Now that MechWarrior is getting big again and actually making money, the new owners are probably looking to lock it down. Living Legends stomps similar ground to MechWarrior Online, MechWarrior Tactics is also on the horizon, and MWO developer Piranha is interested in making a single-player MW game too.

Pre-ordering Crysis 3 will get you a free copy of the original game, EA and Crytek announced today. The offer is good across all platforms, thanks to last year's console port of the first game.

You'll also get the "Hunter Edition," because pre-ordering any EA game these days gets you the Something Edition. In this case, the package includes a Predator Bow and Hunter Nanosuit for use in multiplayer, along with a bonus XP boost up to level 5, a Predator bow skin, and three exclusive dog tags. The game is due in February 2013.

With Crysis 3 recently announced, you need to hone those skills for the Urban Jungle. Now is the time to go back and check out the original two games in the series in case you missed them the first time around. GameFly Digital is discounting them this weekend

Crysis from Electronic Arts is only $9.99. Crysis 2 is only $5 more at $14.99, with Crysis: Maximum Edition also $14.99. All represent a 50 percent discount and are on sale through Sunday.

Another great deal is Brink from Bethesda for only $4.99 through Monday. That's 75 percent off.

Check out Alice's Weekend Deals for other savings. Now what did I do with that nanosuit ...

[Disclosure: Shacknews.com is part of GameFly Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of GameFly, Inc.]

Two months after a console version of Crysis was spotted in a ratings database, Crytek has announced a "remastered" version of the original Crysis for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this October. Though Crysis 2 hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as well, the 2007 original was only ever released on PC.

"For many years, people were asking, can you do Crysis 1 on consoles?" CEO Cervat Yerli told GameTrailers TV. "And we have been secretly working on that for a while."

The announcement trailer notes that the console edition of Crysis has been "remastered with all new lighting" as well as new effects and Nanosuit controls. Like Crysis 2, the console version will offer full stereoscopic 3D support. One speculates that it'll be built upon the Crysis 2-powering CryEngine 3, given all the work that went into optimizing that for consoles.

Crysis 2 will be available on XBLA and PSN for 1600 Microsoft Points/$19.99.

Gamers that played Crysis 2 on the PS3 or Xbox 360 unlocked the tongue-in-cheek achievement after running through the tutorial. But, while the consoles could run the CryEngine 3-powered sequel, many gamers wondered if it would be able to play the benchmark of benchmarks: the originalCrysis.

It appears the original game (pictured above) may be coming to the consoles. Once again, the Korean ratings board has leaked a listing referring to an Xbox 360 version of the game. The listing, filed today, shows Electronic Arts as the publisher. The ESRB listing of the original game has also been updated to reflect both a PS3 and Xbox 360 release.

Earlier this week, a PS3 listing for Limbo was also leaked by the ratings bureau. The developer confirmed its accuracy the next day. We've also reached out to Crytek for comment, and will update if we hear back.